1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a webbing take-up amount limiting device of a retractor, and more particularly to a device for limiting the range of rotation of a webbing take-up shaft to thereby limit the amount of take-up of webbing.
2. Description of the Prior Art
To prevent a seat belt from crossing the get-on-and-off space and hampering the getting on and off of the seat occupant during the non-use of the seat belt and to prevent the seat occupant from being subjected to an unpleasant sense of oppression from the seat belt biased in a take-up direction during the use of the seat belt, there have heretofore been proposed various devices for limiting the amount of take-up of the seat belt onto the retractor. Many of these devices have their own merits and demerits. For example, the device of the type in which a stopper or the like is attached to the webbing and the amount of take-up is limited by the engagement of the stopper with another member is simple in principle and low in cost, but it has a disadvantage that the projection such as the stopper present on the webbing touches the body of the seat occupant and provides a hindrance when he wears the seat belt. The device of the type in which the base supporting the take-up shaft is designed to limit the diameter of the roll of webbing and thereby limit the amount of take-up does not suffer from the disadvantage that the projection touches the human body, but it does not do well in the accuracy of limitation of the amount of take-up. Although, there are systems of the take-up shaft rotation limiting type which are similar to the system of the present invention, in which the retractor body is provided with a limiting mechanism which provides excellent accuracy of limitation of the amount of take-up as well as ease with which the amount of take-up is set, such systems are expensive.